The present invention relates to a motor vehicle door module, of the type comprising a panel fitted with various items of equipment including a window lifter having two rails for guiding runners supporting the window and having cables for driving the runners.
A window lifter of this type likewise comprises a drum which is disposed in a cover and on which the cables are wound, a means for fixing the cover to the panel, and a means for controlling the rotation of the drum disposed on a side of the panel opposite the side on which the rails, the cables, the cover and the drum are positioned.
Thus, the cover accommodating the drum must be attached in a leaktight manner to the supporting panel by appropriate means while being solidly fixed to the drive means of the window lifter situated on the opposite side to the supporting panel, that is to say on the xe2x80x9cdryxe2x80x9d side, the cover, the rails and the cables being situated on the outer, xe2x80x9cwetxe2x80x9d side.
This structure and the corresponding manner of assembly of the window lifter on the panel require separate moulding of the cover of the drum and of the supporting panel, and specific manipulations to mount the cover on the panel and fix it thereon, together with particular attention to maintaining leaktightness at the location of the fixing joints. Furthermore, having regard to the need to maintain the cover/drum assembly, it is necessary to add a clamp thereto temporarily to retain the drum in the assembly during the mounting process.
The object of the invention is to produce a door module designed in a manner such as to reduce the total number of pieces necessary, further to integrate the existing pieces, and to reduce assembly operations by eliminating the clamp and changing the method of assembly.
According to the invention, the cover of the drum is produced integrally with the panel and possesses means for retaining the drum in the said cover that can be used during assembly.
A module is thus produced having a smaller total number of pieces, since the cover forms an integral part of the panel, which may be made either from plastic or from metal.
Another important advantage obtained by virtue of this integration of the cover of the drum with the panel is that it becomes possible to mount all the pieces of the window lifter on the same, outer side of the panel, with the exception of the members for driving the drum, in other words a handle for manual driving or a motor and its electronic control unit for an electrical window lifter.
In a manner known per se, use is made of a punching die and a matrix shaped so as to define between them intervals suitable for receiving the cast material in order to form a wall, a seating for the drum and grooves for the passage of the cables of the window lifter and grooves for retaining the xe2x80x9cpipesxe2x80x9d of the window lifter.